Scene of a SVBIED strike against a military vehicle, that resulted in civilian casualties

Scene of a SVBIED strike against a military vehicle, that resulted in civilian casualties

In Afghanistan in 2012, IEDs caused the most casualties, making up 41 per cent of 6,131 killed or injured by anti-government elements. 868 civilians were killed and another 1,663 injured, totaling 2,531 casualties. The impact on civilians is broader A resident of Arghandab district in Kandahar province, Jane s Intelligence Review, 2010: Before, Taliban were planting mines on the main highways, on the routes that ISAF were taking. Now, ISAF are driving on the fields and gardens, so Taliban are also planting mines in the fields and gardens. Pictures: Joanna Wright

Images taken in 2009 Pictures: Joanna Wright Pressure plate initiatior: Pictured is a pressure plate recovered in Farah province in 2009. It is constructed from wood, two thin strips of metal and a bicycle inner tube. Pressure plate initiatior: Initiator recovered in Farah province in 2009. Extremely basic construction from materials that can be found in local bazaars. Saw blades, springs, and pieces of wood. This device contains a lot of metal components, so would be easy to find with a metal detector.

Images taken in 2010 PMN anti-personnel blast mines were introduced into Soviet service in the early 1960s. 140 copies of PMN anti-personnel mines were seized on June 8 th 2010 from a tractor-trailer near Kandahar airfield. Picture: Joanna Wright The PMN copies were filled with a potassium chlorate-based explosive and lacked a safety device, so were permanently live. The extruded plastic casing was stamped Made in China. though there is no indication this was the origin. The original device is sealed with a metal band, whereas these were tied with kite string, likely to reduce metal content and make them harder to detect Bazaars where copied weapons are sold are a famous feature of the border region of Pakistan, but it is likely the improvised mines are produced by insurgents. Weapons intelligence officer, Kandahar, 2010: We have no evidence that they are being made in weapons bazaars. I would say it is more likely that the insurgents have a factory somewhere which is churning them out. Otherwise, I would expect them to have proliferated far more than they have You just need a safe haven. But I think it is unlikely they are made in Afghanistan because that sort of technology would stick out.

Image taken in 2012

Pictures: Joanna Wright Firing point: Crude firing point, set up with pieces of wood arranged like a rifle site, to target a command wire or remote command IED. Command wire initiation: Pictured is an activation switch to either arm or detonate a device. Often a mobile phone top up card or piece of wood is placed in the teeth of a clothes peg which has had metal contacts added. This is pulled out by a length of string to complete the circuit as the target approaches.

Attacks Against Non-Military Facilities and Disregard for Non Combatants An SVBIED strike against the district centre (a government facility) in Mandozai, Khost Province, on 28 December 2008. This attack was carried out in the Haqqani Network area of operations. Sixteen Afghans were killed, including 14 children. Another 58 people were injured, including at least 40 civilians. Failure to minimise weapons effects: SVBIEDs and VBIEDs are the main killers of civilians in Afghanistan, due to the attacks often being carried out in public areas. Taliban often do not claim SVBIED attacks in public areas, or put out propaganda claiming only military personnel were killed. Local people report avoiding government facilities because of the threat of suicide attacks.

The Emirate - Taliban: A Martyrdom-Seeking Attack Destroys Two American Vehicles in Jalalabad In the Name of Allah, the most Gracious and Merciful Zabihallah (Mujahid) 1/3/2009 Moments after noon today, one of the heroes of the Islamic Emirate, the mujahid, Abdul Rahman, a resident of Khost province, carried out a martyrdom-seeking attack on an American military convoy near the center of the army command within the city of Jalalabad, the center of Nangarhar province. It resulted in the destruction of two enemy military vehicles. Reports indicated that the attack was carried out by means of a car bomb, resulting in the complete destruction of the two vehicles and the killing of soldiers onboard both. A number of Afghan soldiers were injured who stood before the army command center, where the powerful explosion took place. It is mentioned that on 05-02-2009 a similar martyrdomseeking attack was carried out at the cemetery of Hadi Ikhnizadi inside this city. It resulted in the destruction of two tanks belonging to the American occupation soldiers and the death of eight soldiers onboard both. Picture: Joanna Wright

On January 22 2010 the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan banned the use, production, storage, purchase or sale of ammonium nitrate JIEDDO estimated that after the ammonium nitrate ban, 480,000lbs of calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN-26) was smuggled into Afghanistan in one year, making 80 per cent of the IEDs. This underlines the difficulty of enforcing the ammonium nitrate ban. In 2012 Afghanistan launched a Counter-IED plan. It includes 39 articles, ranging from Rule of Law to Public Awareness, and includes a considerable level of coordination between ministries. A major challenge for the C-IED strategy to be workable and relevant, is the level of capacity in key institutions in Afghanistan. An eight tonne truck bomb was seized in Kabul in early 2013. Images from a news source.

Border crossing at Khyber Pass Picture: Joanna Wright

Terrorist and insurgent groups use videos of classic guerrilla style attacks, such as IED strikes against military vehicles or facilities, as a recruitment tool for fighters, including foreign fighters who may then go back to their home countries or conduct more terrorist-style attacks. Video footage is also likely to be used for fundraising purposes. The video text reads: > The hero went toward the main gate with his truck that was full of explosives. > And the time he arrived at the gate, the time he blew up among a crowd of the American soldiers and their agents. > It s up to Allah and not anyone else, but Allah The One to be worshipped. Stills from As Sahab, the media arm of the Taliban

Stills taken from an Al Jazeera broadcast

Afghan journalists frequently report on IED attacks, as incidents, in the context of a news event. There is limited, if any, reporting on the impact IEDs have on issues such as access to land and education. The major reporting focus is on suicide attacks that happen in urban areas, where media is present. These strikes typically result in a large numbers of casualties and significant damage, creating demand for coverage from news networks. Rural areas are usually difficult for journalists to access. This limits coverage of victim operated devices which are typically planted in rural areas. There is little investigative reporting into the threat posed by IEDs to civilians. Threats to local journalists, particularly in the provinces with the highest levels of insecurity, are the key block to weapons research. A journalist trying to carry out this work would face warnings from Taliban or unidentified persons to stop working on the story. In parts of the country where there is conflict, local people would also put themselves in danger by speaking about an issue such as IEDs. Funding of Afghan media outlets for investigative research projects may also drive coverage to other areas, such as human rights, women or corruption.

In Afghanistan there is not broad awareness of IHL, although the broad concepts are accepted as norms among both civilians and journalists. Awareness of Islamic laws condemning the killing of civilians are spread through mosques, schools, media and by the Government. The Afghan journalists said there was a need to raise awareness of the threat posed to civilians to try to increase turn-ins of any devices planted in rural areas, where locals are typically warned how to avoid IEDs by Taliban. There is a lot of rumor surrounding the larger suicide attacks, which are in some cases blamed by locals on air strikes. The other development in the villages picked up by some of the local journalists is that youths have been recruited to plant mines. Workshops, seminars and awareness projects could address this. There are clear barriers, notably the threat to civilians and journalists in rural areas. Government adverts on television underlining that killing civilians is un-islamic are frequently broadcast, but much of the population do not have access to this media. Afghans primarily use radio as an information source, therefore the focus should be on this media. In terms of smuggling/higher level IED preparation the local journalists said they think any effort has to be a military focus - this probably reflects the heavily defended safe havens and cross-border sites, which are obviously inaccessible to journalists.

Packaging recovered from an IED in the P2K (Paktia, Paktika, Khost). Pictures: Joanna Wright Stills from an Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) suicide car bomb video.

Afghan National Army pictures from a raid on a bazaar in Marjah, Helmand, from 19 to 22 May 2009. Items seized during the raid included a large quantity of bomb making materials, several police vehicles being prepared as suicide bombs, opiate processing chemicals and 18,000kgs of black tar heroin.

Blasting caps, recovered in Khost province Pictures: Joanna Wright